Pride of the East Side

“For the 2009-2010 school year, I was granted access to Sam Houston High School, the only high school in the San Antonio Independent School District that is predominantly African-American. The school was placed on the district’s closure list in 2009 after years of being rated academically unacceptable by state standards and seeing enrollment steadily decline. The school was granted a reprieve after a community uproar and given a chance to turn itself around under a new principal, Darnell White. Attendance was his biggest challenge. During the final weeks of the school year, White still struggled to get students to school, holding a sign in the mornings before school outside a popular breakfast taco spot where students often lingered.”